Team Herald
PANJIM: In a bid to reduce increasing road traffic, the Union Railways Ministry has granted ‘in principle’ approval to the State and Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) proposal to double track the railway route from Canacona (South) to Pernem (North) connecting to the proposed international airport at Mopa.
The State is considering starting EMU (Electric Multiple Unit) or DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) trains, which would run on a shuttle basis. The project is looked upon as one of the biggest infrastructural projects with crores of investment.
Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said this would reduce road traffic, accidents and also consumption of fuel and cause less pollution. “The same railway line can be connected to the coming Mopa airport, which will help to achieve lot more,” he said.
He said that considering the increasing number of road accidents as a result of uncontrolled traffic, there is a need to bring control on number of vehicles in the State but this cannot be restricted without offering an alternative.
“People working in Pernem from Canacona or vice-versa, would be able to reach the destination within one to one and half hour. This proposal has great scope,” Parsekar said and added that the government is left with only this alternative to reduce road traffic.
The chief minister was speaking at the inaugural of a day-long seminar on ‘Management of Transport (traffic) in Goa’ organized by Goa Legislative Secretariat in co-ordination with Goa Legislative Forum. Speaker Rajendra Arlekar, Deputy Speaker Anant Shet, Leader of Opposition Pratapsingh Rane and others were present.
Later, speaking to the media, Parsekar said the project would be undertaken with the existing infrastructure, with KRCL already acquiring land for the project in the past. “Soon on trial basis, we will commence these trains on single track,” he said.
The double track proposal was initially mooted by the State and this was approved by KRCL at a joint meeting on June 22.
